A ban on most abortions after the first detectable fetal heartbeat has once again cleared the Ohio House, leaving the rest of the two-year session for advocates to lobby the bill's opponents in the Ohio Senate.

A ban on most abortions after the first detectable fetal heartbeat has once again cleared the Ohio House, leaving the rest of the two-year session for advocates to lobby the bill’s opponents in the Ohio Senate.

Wednesday’s approval followed a startlingly emotional floor debate in which one veteran female lawmaker revealed she’d been raped and had an abortion, and one male legislator cried as he recounted praying that his stillborn child would take a breath.

Sponsor Christina Hagan said her own heartbeat stopped repeatedly while she was being delivered.

Amid the tears and raised voices, the Republican-controlled chamber approved the bill 55-40 in the third such vote in as many sessions.

Proponents defended the bill as life-protecting, while opponents called it unconstitutional and heavy-handed.

An Ohio House committee has scheduled a possible vote for Tuesday on a proposal to effectively ban abortions after the first fetal heartbeat is detected. The measure has failed in each of the last two legislative sessions.

For the third time in as many legislative sessions, Ohio abortion opponents have introduced a proposal to effectively ban the procedure after the first fetal heartbeat is detected, which can come as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

For the third time in as many legislative sessions, Ohio abortion opponents have introduced a proposal to effectively ban the procedure after the first fetal heartbeat is detected, which can come as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

The so-called “heartbeat bill” re-emerged on Tuesday with 50 of 99 state representatives signed on as co-sponsors.

The effort follows two failed attempts at what would be one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in America, and one detractors fear would prompt costly litigation.

The Senate blocked the bill two sessions ago and, last session, it failed in a dramatic House floor vote.

The measure had fiercely divided Ohio’s anti-abortion community, with Ohio Right to Life refusing to endorse it out of fear a court challenge could undo existing abortion restrictions.

With strong Republican legislative majorities, abortion foes in Ohio have set their sights on an aggressive agenda for the new session.

Ohio Right to Life said Tuesday it will pursue legislation to ban all abortions of “pain-capable” fetuses or on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis, and to fully defund women’s health care and abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

The group also seeks so-called trigger legislation that would prohibit abortions in Ohio, except those necessary to save the mother’s life, in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

A spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio said the proposals are unconstitutional and jeopardize women’s health.

Other target bills would require use of federal protocols for use of abortion-inducing drugs and funnel money to crisis pregnancy centers.

A Democratic congressman in politically divided Ohio has publicly declared a position switch on abortion.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, of Niles in northeast Ohio, writes Wednesday in the Akron Beacon Journal that he initially opposed the procedure that ends pregnancy but now favors abortion rights.

A spokesman says Ryan did not make the switch for political reasons. The 41-year-old congressman’s name often arises as a potential governor or U.S. Senate candidate. Press secretary Michael Zetts says the declaration simply makes official a stance that’s been reflected in Ryan’s votes for about five years.

Ryan says he grew up in a Catholic household opposed to abortion, but stories shared by female constituents over 14 years lead him to believe “the heavy hand of government” should be removed from reproductive decision-making.

Proposed new regulations on abortion could be among the first measures that lawmakers will see in this new General Assembly.

First up is a ban on abortion after 20 weeks. Right now, Ohio law bans abortion after viability is determined – somewhere between 20 and 24 weeks. But Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis says activists want the ban set at 20 weeks, when they say a fetus feels pain.

“Ohio Right to Life has been very transparent in its approach – that we believe in the incremental approach,” Gonidakis says.

“Recall in 2011, we passed a late term ban that banned abortions at the point of viability. So we’ve seen a 62 percent reduction in late term abortions since we passed the ban in 2011.
We think this is the next logical step.

20 week ban

Gonidakis says 13 states have passed a 20 week ban, and the bans in Georgia and Arizona have been challenged in court and upheld.

But Kellie Copeland with NARAL/Pro Choice Ohio says only 1.2 percent of all abortions are performed after 20 weeks and almost always because of serious pregnancy complications which she says are usually frightening and heartbreaking.

“Ohio law already forces women in these situations to leave the state to access abortion care that they need,” says Copeland.

This law would result in Gov. Kasich and other politicians inserting their political interference even earlier in a pregnancy, and we have very grave concerns about the impact on Ohioans.

Heartbeat Bill

And after this proposed 20 week ban is put forward in the legislature, another piece of abortion legislation is waiting for its turn to be introduced – for the third time. It’s the so-called Heartbeat Bill, which would ban abortion after the first detectable fetal heartbeat, around six to eight weeks.

Janet Folger Porter of Faith2Action has backed the Heartbeat Bill in the last two sessions of the General Assembly, and she says she supports the 20 week ban, but her goal is clear.

“We have a sponsor and a joint co-sponsor and a whole host of co-sponsors on the bill already. It’s just a matter of timing. And I think we’re going to pick up a few more before we introduce the bill. But I think that the time has come to actually see those children with beating hearts protected by law.

“That’s what we intend to do, and we’re frankly not going to stop until it happens.

The Heartbeat Bill was brought the House floor for a sudden, unexpected vote in the lame duck session but failed – and both those who supported and opposed it blamed politics.

No medical basis?

Critics of abortion restrictions have complained that abortion bills are built on political aspirations and religious convictions, and often exclude doctors and other medical experts.

Monette Richards is with the Secular Majority, which is concerned about religion in state policy.

“It’s worrying to me. There have been a number of laws on the books, some passed, some didn’t, just these last couple of General Assembly sessions. For instance, the Fetal Pain bill is based on bad science, a lot of the anti-choice laws are religious in nature,” Richards says.

Folger Porter says the Heartbeat Bill has usually been introduced around Valentine’s Day, but it could be put forward earlier. Ohio Right to Life hasn’t supported the Heartbeat Bill in the past, saying it’s unconstitutional.

But Copeland says the bans are both unconstitutional. Gonidakis says the 20 week ban should be introduced shortly, though he declined to name the sponsors. The ban is similar to the proposal that was pulled before a vote in the US House recently, after some Republican Congresswomen raised concerns about restrictions in it.

Gonidakis says the Ohio proposal doesn’t include some of those disputed concerns. But while the ban does allow exceptions when a woman’s life and health are at risk, it does not include exceptions for rape or incest. Gonidakis says the expectation that by 20 weeks, a woman who was the victim of such a crime would have made a decision to terminate a pregnancy long before that.

A bill imposing some of the nation’s most stringent abortion restrictions has cleared an Ohio House committee after suddenly re-surfacing in the lame duck session.

The GOP-led House Health Committee passed the so-called heartbeat bill Thursday after several emotional hours of testimony. The measure cleared the House in 2011, but was stopped in the Senate.

It would restrict most abortions at the first detectable fetal heartbeat, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

Before the committee vote, abortion rights advocates attacked the measure as unnecessary, dangerous and misogynist. The American Civil Liberties Union warned it would draw an immediate, costly legal challenge if passed.

Meanwhile, passionate proponents called abortion murder and defended their right as public servants to protect human life.

The Department of Health has warned that Cincinnati’s last abortion clinic risks losing its license if it doesn’t get a patient-transfer agreement with a local hospital as required by Ohio law.

The notification was sent this week to the facility run by Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region. Its vice president for external affairs, Rick Pender, said it can’t meet the requirement.

Pender said the clinic had an agreement with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center that couldn’t continue because state rules approved in 2013 banned publicly funded hospitals from having such agreements with abortion providers. Pender says most other Cincinnati-area hospitals are run by Catholic organizations.

The clinic wants approval for an alternative emergency-care arrangement with doctors from the remaining hospital. Pender said the state hasn’t acted on that request.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/10/24/last-cincinnati-abortion-clinic-gets-state-warning/feed/2Local Anti-Abortion Group To Demonstrate At Area High Schoolshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/09/22/local-anti-abortion-groups-demonstrate-area-high-schools-1/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/09/22/local-anti-abortion-groups-demonstrate-area-high-schools-1/#commentsMon, 22 Sep 2014 09:00:29 +0000Mandie Trimblehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=78907

Abortion clinics, hospitals and the statehouse are the most common locations for anti-abortion demonstrations. But a Columbus-based pro-life group is taking its message to area high schools. It’s an approach that has become increasingly common in recent years.

Abortion clinics, hospitals and the statehouse are the most common locations for anti-abortion demonstrations. But a Columbus-based pro-life group is taking its message to area high schools. It’s an approach that has become increasingly common in recent years.

Anti-abortion demonstrators hold up large, graphic signs of fetuses at Gahanna-Lincoln High School as students board buses and wait to cross the street to go home. It was the second protest at the school conducted by a group called Created Equal. The group’s director, Mark Harrington, said it decided to hold rallies at all of the Columbus-area school districts in the coming months.

“This is where students, young people, are going to decide if they’re going to be sexually active.”

Founded three years ago, Created Equal’s Harrington said it’s trying to balance out public sex education.

“They’re being taught about safe sex inside this school and many schools…They’re being taught about STDs. They need to be taught about abortion. In every other way we teach people we show them what goes on,” Harrington said.

Minneapolis pro-choice author Robin Marti researches and monitors U. S. anti-abortion groups. Marti said pro-life high school demonstrations are less common than rallies held at abortion clinics or hospitals where abortion providers have admitting privileges. But she said it’s an approach that’s gaining ground.

“Especially like states in Ohio. Abortion clinics are closing so quickly, and there are so many different [anti-abortion] groups. And you also have so few clinics for them to be able to concentrate on.”

Marty said the groups have resorted to focusing on high schools.

“Because they believe that students inside are likely learning sex education that they need to learn outside on the sidewalk what it is that they actually would be doing if they had an abortion,” Marti said. “So they see this as a front line movement that will help them to stop somebody before they ever get to the point where they would get pregnant and go get an abortion.”

Around the corner from Gahanna-Lincoln High is an elementary school. Middle and elementary schools often are near district high schools.

Marty said a number of anti-abortion groups she has researched avoid locations with close proximity to grade schools.

“That’s something we don’t usually see a lot of because usually they try to respect staying away from younger children,” she said.

At least one Gahanna student stopped and spoke at length with a demonstrator as Heather Wolpe waited to pick up her daughter, Ery.

“I, personally, am OK [with pro-life rallies],” Wolpe said. “However I don’t like that they’re pushing their views on children. I mean, as a parent. I speak with her. We’ve discussed this,” Wolpe said. “I don’t like it because [Ery] doesn’t like it.”

Ery said the signs made her uncomfortable.

“I don’t like it because there’s an elementary school right over there. And they all see these signs and they’re like 12, 11. And they see the signs.”

In Hilliard, there are middle schools across the street from two of the district’s high schools.

Hilliard City School spokeswoman Amanda Morris said the district will notify parents of a demonstration if school officials get advance notice. Morris added a rally of this kind would be a first for the district, though she said other demonstrations have taken place near Hilliard schools in the past.

“Our focus has been to not give them the attention they are looking for and really focusing in on our school day taking place as normal,” Morris said.”So that’s kind of been our approach in the past, and, if needed, we may need to kind of take that step again.”

Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League executive director Eric Scheidler said his organization has taken graphic pictures to high schools for years. But he said some groups have stepped up the tactic.

“This isn’t really a new tactic nationally. Created Equal has been going out and making a real point lately of trying to bring these pictures to the high schools because we know that this is a target audience for the abortion industry.”

Scheidler added shocking images can be powerful. He cited pictures of the Holocaust, Vietnam and child labor. But Scheidler underscored the images must be used judiciously and that his group sets limits where it demonstrates.

“We’re very careful to look in the vicinity of anyplace we’re going to bring those abortion victim photos to make sure we’re not going to be close to daycare centers, elementary schools or family types of events,” Scheidler said. “I know other groups will draw the line somewhere else. And it’s not really up to me to tell anyone else what to do. But that’s a concern that we have.”

Overall, abortions have steadily declined in Ohio since 2000, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Fourteen percent of the state’s abortions are performed on girls between 15 and 19 years old. The number of abortions within that age range has dropped by half since 2000, the largest decrease of any age group.

Created Equal’s Mark Harrington credits the decline, in part, to the work of anti-abortion groups. And he said it’s necessary to continue to take the pro-life message to teens. As far as holding rallies near elementary and middle schools, Harrington said the group tries to choose locations where grade schools aren’t directly across from high schools.

“We realize that younger children are going to see these, too. I mean, I’m a parent and I completely sympathize with parents who don’t want them to learn this kind of thing,” Harrington said. “But if they want to stop us from coming out here, then let’s stop the killing.”

Harrington said Created Equal intended to demonstrate in the Reynoldsburg district this week, but he said the teacher strike caused the group to select another school district. At the time this story was recorded the Harrington had not decided on one.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/09/22/local-anti-abortion-groups-demonstrate-area-high-schools-1/feed/4abortion,Created EqualAbortion clinics, hospitals and the statehouse are the most common locations for anti-abortion demonstrations. But a Columbus-based pro-life group is taking its message to area high schools. It’s an approach that has become increasingly common in recen...Abortion clinics, hospitals and the statehouse are the most common locations for anti-abortion demonstrations. But a Columbus-based pro-life group is taking its message to area high schools. It’s an approach that has become increasingly common in recent years.WOSU Newsno5:22Bill Would Ban State Health Plans From Covering Some Birth Controlhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/06/06/bill-ban-state-health-plans-covering-birth-control-2/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/06/06/bill-ban-state-health-plans-covering-birth-control-2/#commentsFri, 06 Jun 2014 13:01:52 +0000Jo Ingleshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=72237

Thereâ€™s a bill under consideration in the Ohio legislature that would ban the health care plans for state employees from covering many birth control pills and inner-uterine devices.

A bill under consideration in the Ohio legislature would eliminate coverage for many birth control pills from the health plans of state employees.

Republican State Representative John Becker says those types of birth control effectively amount to abortion, and he wants to eliminate all coverage for abortion in state health care plans, even in cases of rape and incest or when the life of the mother is in danger.

The only exception would be an ectopic pregnancy, when the egg is implanted in the fallopian tubes.

Eliminates IUD’s

Becker says the bill would eliminate insurance coverage for some popular inner-uterine forms of birth control.

“Yes, an I.U.D. would be prevented because those take a human life without question. Thatâ€™s what those are designed to do,” Becker says.

Becker says the bill would also eliminate other forms of birth control, like certain birth control pills, that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a womanâ€™s uterus.

The bottom line is you have an embryo that is created. And it does implant that human life from being implanted in the uterus and it dies.

Some do not agree

Democratic State Representative John Carney takes issue with Beckerâ€™s thinking on this subject.

“Here youâ€™ve got a representative who just lacks fundamental understanding of medical science who is pushing forward a piece of legislation that would impact many many people here in the state of Ohio, to include all state employees, to include my family, to say that you shouldnâ€™t be able to use these sorts of birth control devices because they cause abortions which is just factually incorrect,” Carney says.

Carney says thereâ€™s no need for lawmakers to give this bill serious consideration.

It demonstrates how out of touch a number of these individuals are.

If Ohio bans the insurance coverage of these birth control methods, it would violate a rule in the Affordable Care Act that requires most insurance plans to cover the full range of contraceptives at no out of pocket cost to a woman.

Becker says heâ€™s in the process of getting more information on that.